FC Barcelona have been rocked with another crucial blow as their disastrous season winds down. It’s emerged that their first choice central defender Gabriel Milito, in only his first season at Camp Nou, shall be out for no fewer than nine months after undergoing surgery on a torn knee ligament.

The 26-year old Argentine international damaged his ligament during Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League, semi-final second leg match against Manchester United at Old Trafford last month and has been out of football since then.

Initially he was anticipated to be out for six months but the surgery executed on his knee implies that he shall have to miss at least three more months.

Surgeon Ramon Cugat, who performed the surgery on Milito, told a news conference:

"First we carried out arthroscopic surgery on the right knee and discovered that effectively the ligament was broken, so we proceeded to extract tendon from the left knee to incorporate it into the damaged one.

"Normally an operation on the anterior cruciate ligament would entail a six month layoff.

"In this case, we have replaced one ligament that was operated on seven years ago...and put in a new one.

"The six months could stretch to nine as this type of operation could have more complications."

Barcelona’s soon-to-be-coach Josep Guardiola is reportedly looking for a quality central defender to replace Gabriel Milito and it is speculated that he wants to sign Inter Milan’s Romanian international defender Cristian Chivu in the summer to bolster Barca’s defence.